To play a conventional slot machine, the player deposits money into the machine, sets the wager, and spins the reels. When the reels stop spinning, symbols are displayed and the player collects credits for winning combinations, if any, according to a pay schedule. Since conventional slot machines are limited to the foregoing methods, players, casinos and manufacturers suffer:
Players suffer the boredom of playing games using same method of play; casinos suffer from the players' dissatisfaction with the casino's game selection; casinos cannot distinguish their game offerings from other casinos; and game manufacturers cannot distinguish their product line from other manufacturers.
Casino operators and slot manufacturers, therefore, have developed new methods of playing slot machines to overcome these limitations. One of these methods incorporates free spins of the slot reels. Free spins increase the game's popularity amongst players by enhancing entertainment value and, therefore, increase the game's financial value to the operators and manufacturers.
In known games using free spins, the games only issue awards for winning outcomes on that particular free spin (“single-free-spin awards”). These games do not issue awards for assembling a winning outcome over multiple free spins (“multi-free-spin awards”). As a result, games using single-free-spin awards suffer from three significant disadvantages:
First, awards amounts are limited by the mathematical probabilities of a single spin of the slot reels; second, awards types are limited by the possible outcomes of a single spin of the slot reels; and third, duration of award expectancy is limited to the completion time of a single spin of the slot reels.
Thus, the full potential for free spin games to enhance the value of a slot game remains unrealized.